Van Ostern, Tierney square off in Executive Council District 2 race

DOVER— In a contentious race, newcomers Colin Van Ostern and Michael Tierney are vying for the District 2 Executive Council seat.

The district includes the local communities of Dover, Durham, Farmington, Madbury, Rochester, Rollinsford, Somersworth and Strafford.

Republican Michael Tierney, 35, of Contoocook, told Foster's he “reluctantly” entered the race, but feels that now he must win to provide an “effective” check on the new governor and administration. Tierney has a background as a high school teacher and lawyer, and now practices civil law as a partner with Wadleigh, Starr & Peters, PLLC in Manchester. After graduating from Dartmouth College, he taught for four years at the high school level, in both Claremont and St. Johnsbury, Vt., before attending law school at the University of Notre Dame. He noted he can effectively keep his job and serve as an executive councilor.

Van Ostern, 33, is a business manager for Stonyfield Farm, Inc. in Manchester. After graduating from George Washington University, he worked with several Washington Democrats, including Annie Kuster in 2010, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen during her U.S. Senate campaign, and John Edwards during his presidential campaign. He said he believes state legislative bodies, and the Executive Council, are too bogged down by social issues and hopes to look at contracts and appointment approvals practically, to better serve the district.

Both Tierney and Van Ostern have sparred publicly over their conflicting views on funding for Planned Parenthood, to which Tierney argues, contracts should be awarded by the Executive Council through a competitive bidding process. He is representing the group N.H. Right to Life in an information request dispute regarding the contract award. Van Ostern said he would hate to lose a service like Planned Parenthood, and wants to see it continue work in the state. Both say the dispute is not over abortion, though Van Ostern is pro-choice and Tierney aligns himself with the pro-life cause.

Both candidates have said they could work with either gubernatorial candidate — Democrat Maggie Hassan or Republican Ovide Lamontagne — and are both skeptical of the privatization of state prisons, a budding issue on the horizon for the Executive Council, they say.

Van Ostern is in favor of economic growth, by developing the state's infrastructure, both “human and physical.” He is interested in building state highways and bolstering education, noting he was dissatisfied with the negative vote for expanding the passenger rail project. He said he would seek to re-address that issue.

Tierney told Foster's he believes Van Ostern is only looking to launch his career as a Democratic player in big government. He said he aims to work to keep state spending in line, and work as diligently as possible to spend taxpayer dollars wisely.